1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of sheet material supply. In particular, the present invention relates specifically to providing a reserve supply and an indicator of the reserve in a sheet material supply roll. Known art may be found in U.S. Class 242, Subclass 118.3, 118.32, 160.1, 160.2, 160.3, 160.4, 166, 167, 563, 563.2, and 912 as well as in other classes and subclasses.
2. Description of the Known Art
Patents disclosing relevant information include: U.S. Pat. No. 610,339 issued to Atherton on Sep. 6, 1898; U.S. Pat. No. 1,935,970 issued to Wooster on Nov. 21, 1933; U.S. Pat. No. 4,111,378 issued to Barwick on Sep. 5, 1978; U.S. Pat. No. 4,161,249 issued to Dashow on Jul. 17, 1979; U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,663 issued to De Luca on Feb. 20, 1990; U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,214 issued to Hazelton on May 15, 1990; U.S. Pat. No. 5,365,874 issued to Dorfman on Nov. 22, 1994; U.S. Pat. No. 5,474,249 issued to Koizumi on Dec. 12, 1995; U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,165 issued to Huston on Oct. 6, 1998; U.S. Pat. No. 6,282,807 issued to Johnson on Sep. 4, 2001; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,607,110 issued to Nusbaum on Aug. 19, 2003. Each of these patents are hereby expressly incorporated by reference in their entirety.
U.S. Pat. No. 610,339 issued to Atherton on Sep. 6, 1898 discloses a solid paper based telegraph tape with certain marks or indications which will call to the operators attention to the fact that the end of the coil of tape is approaching.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,111,378 issued to Barwick on Sep. 5, 1978 discloses a ink ribbon spool roll with the end portion wound in one direction and the rest of the roll in another. When the end of the roll is approaching the roll changes direction giving the user indication that the end is near.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,365,874 issued to Dorfman on Nov. 22, 1994 discloses dental floss with an indicator. The indicator is described as a length of tape having a different color or appearance than the rest of the roll. In the drawings number 38, 40 are relevant.
It is also known to color along the side of a strip of adding machine paper to indicate the approach of the end of a roll. This side coloring provides a problem to consumers in that a new receipt cannot be printed with a clear copy for the customer without actually changing the roll of material to one that has not yet reached the red coloring portion. The typical red dye used to color the paper means that the receipt cannot be copied for expense reports or other reproductive necessities. In addition to these problems, the knowledge of changing color of a segment of material has stayed limited to the paper and solid object fields of endeavor and has not been recognized for its use in other applications such as translucent wrap.
What is not known is the deliberate packaging of an extended length of material on a roll over a separate reserve segment with the reserve segment having a changing indicator. Thus, it may be seen that these prior art patents are very limited in their teaching and utilization, and an improved roll supply is needed to overcome these limitations.